US trial for accused fraudster Stanford opens Monday

Stanford, 61, has spent much of that time in a federal prison in Houston, and the mustachioed ex-tycoon may give evidence in a case watched closely by myriad investors who still don’t know if they will get any of their money back.

The trial has been delayed due to legal maneuvers, attorneys being hired and fired, and a prison fight that left Stanford, a towering man of six feet and four inches (193 centimeters), badly injured.

Stanford has pleaded not guilty to a revised 14-count federal indictment accusing him of bilking approximately 30,000 investors from over 100 countries through bogus investments with Stanford International Bank, based in Antigua.

Fallen Financier & Cricket Mogul Allen Stanford

In the West Indies he created the Stanford 20/20 Cricket tournament which, in 2008, captured a global television audience of 300 million.

But his personal fiefdom began to crumble when it attracted scrutiny from US financial regulators and he was charged by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) with fraud in February 2009.

According to the indictment Stanford “perpetrated a scheme to defraud investors who purchased SIB (certificates of deposit) of billions of dollars by soliciting funds under false pretenses.”

He then failed to invest those funds as promised, misappropriated money for personal use, created and disseminated false and fraudulent accounts to falsely show investors how their funds had been invested, and funneled bribes to Antiguan regulators to conceal the scheme, said prosecutors.

Following weeks of speculation about the federal investigation into his dealings, Stanford was arrested in June 2009 outside his girlfriend’s home in the US state of Virginia.

In 2006, Forbes Magazine ranked Stanford as the 605th richest person in the world, with a fortune of $2.2 billion. After most of those funds were frozen by the courts, Stanford was forced to accept appointed counsel.

But he has gone through more than a dozen lawyers since. Some he fired, but others quit. As recently as last week, Stanford’s court-appointed attorneys, Robert Scardino and Ali Fazel, asked US District Judge David Hittner permission to withdraw from the case, but the request was denied.

Judge Hittner had also ruled that Stanford was a flight risk and refused to set a bail bond, leaving him in custody.

While behind bars Stanford was involved in a fight with another inmate in which he was smashed into a steel pole, breaking many facial bones, and thrown onto a concrete floor injuring the back of his head.

He suffered a concussion which his attorneys claimed left him with memory loss and unable to participate in his defense.

Following the altercation, prison medics also prescribed antidepressants and strong antianxiety medication for Stanford. The combination, his attorneys argued, left him unfit for trial.

But the judge disagreed, ordering Stanford, who had become addicted to the anxiety medication, to undertake drug treatment and last month the accused was declared competent to stand trial.

Defense attorneys reportedly plan to have Stanford take the stand, but a fraud detection expert said the tactic could backfire.

“The prosecution gets to put their case on first. And when push comes to shove and all the evidence is on the table, the defense often changes its mind,” said Allen Bachman, of the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners in Austin, Texas.

A key test for prosecutors will be keeping the complex case against Stanford understandable to the jury.

“They need to keep it simple and concentrate on their best evidence,” Bachman said. “They don’t want to go down the worm hole.”

Source: MSN

Cuba dissident buried as Havana cries foul

HAVANA — Cuban dissident Wilmar Villar was buried in his hometown in eastern Cuba on Friday, rights activists told AFP, as Havana denied the inmate was a political prisoner who died after a 50-day hunger strike.
Villar, 31, is the second dissident to die here after a hunger strike in less than two years, and his passing drew condemnation from national and international human rights groups, as well as foreign governments.
Cuba’s communist rulers “bear complete moral, political and legal responsibility for the death of Wilmar, because he was in the custody of the authorities,” said dissident leader Elizardo Sanchez, calling it an “avoidable death.”
A wake was held for Villar at a funeral home in his town of Contramaestre, 900 kilometers (560 miles) southeast of Havana, but some said the authorities were preventing dissidents from attending.

Cuban dissident Wilmar Villar was buried in his hometown in eastern Cuba on Friday (AFP/HO/File

“I have a government agent in front of my house,” said Jose Daniel Ferrer, an ex-political prisoner who heads the opposition Patriotic Union of Cuba — to which Villar belonged.
More than 30 dissidents in several towns “have already been arrested so they can be prevented from going to the funeral,” added Ferrer, who was released in 2010.
Villar’s remains were buried later Friday in a ceremony attended by family, and under tight police scrutiny, activist Ana Luisa Bedey told AFP.

Sanchez, who leads the banned but tolerated Cuban Committee for Human Rights and National Reconciliation, said Villar had spent several days in “critical condition” at a hospital in the southeast of the Caribbean island.
The government of President Raul Castro denies it is holding any political prisoners, and considers jailed opposition activists to be US-backed “mercenaries.”
In an official note published Friday on the state-run Cubadebate website, the government said it had “abundant evidence and testimony” that Villar was not a dissident.
It slammed what it called an “international defamatory campaign” led by foreign news media “in collusion with domestic counterrevolutionary elements” over the case.

The statement said Villar had died of “multiple organ failure” which led to “septic shock.”
Villar had been convicted of “contempt, resistance and assault” and joined 60 political prisoners being held in Cuba, according to Sanchez’s group.
He was married to Maritza Pelegrino, an activist in the opposition Ladies in White group. He leaves two daughters, ages five and 10.
Villar is the second Cuban dissident to die in a hunger strike since Orlando Zapata — considered a “prisoner of conscience” by Amnesty International — who expired after 85 days without food in February 2010.
In the United States, home to 1.5 million Cuban-Americans, the White House said President Barack Obama’s “thoughts and prayers are with the wife, family, and friends of Wilmar Villar.”
Villar’s “senseless death highlights the ongoing repression of the Cuban people and the plight faced by brave individuals standing up for the universal rights of all Cubans,” the White House said, adding that the United States “will not waiver in our support for the liberty of the Cuban people.”
Havana and Washington have not had full diplomatic ties since 1961.
In Spain, home to thousands of Cuban dissidents, the government of Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy expressed “consternation” over Villar’s death, and urged Cuba to “liberate all political prisoners.”
Jose Miguel Vivanco with the watchdog group Human Rights Watch said Villar was not allowed to speak in his defense or have an attorney present at his trial.

Copyright © 2012 AFP. All rights reserved.

Haiti Minister of the Interior & OAS Discuss Potential Areas of Cooperation

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti, Jan. 20, 2012 /PRNewswire/ — Haiti’s Minister of the Interior Thierry Mayard-Paul accompanied by Prime Minister Garry Conille at a meeting with Ambassador Albert Ramdin, Assistant Secretary General for the Organization of American States, discussed potential cooperation in the areas of civil registry, security and disaster relief.

MIN. THIERRY MAYARD-PAUL

Topics addressed included a potential contribution from the OAS to strengthen security and disaster relief capacity building, as well as preparedness. “We had a very productive meeting and are encouraged by the OAS’ intent to support and contribute to the reinforcement of our institutional capacity, particularly in areas that the Ministry has outlined in its strategic action plan,” said Minister Mayard-Paul. “Our goal is to strengthen our institutional capabilities across the country, as a key element within our decentralization strategy.”

The delegations agreed to meet again in February to discuss specifics.

The meeting was also attended by Francois Bolduc, OAS Representative in Haiti, Shelly Dass, Counselor to Ambassador Ramdin, General Guy Thibault, IACD, Lieutenant Dennis Lepes, IACD and Catherine Pognat, OAS’ Senior Officer

Know Censorship on the Internet, Arts & Entertainment

LOS ANGELES, Jan. 20, 2012 /PRNewswire/ — Censorship is the suppression of speech and art or other public communication, which may be considered objectionable, harmful, sensitive, or inconvenient as determined by our government, states Mike McNeilly. Censorship by the government is unconstitutional and creates a “chilling effect” on the right to express our beliefs.

The “chilling effect” is the term used to describe the inhibition of the legitimate exercise of a constitutional right by the threat of legal sanction. The right that is most often described as being suppressed by a “chilling effect” is the right of free speech. Our rights are clearly stated in the Constitution: “Congress shall make no law…abridging the freedom of speech or the press.” A “chilling effect” may be caused by legal actions such as the passing of a law, the decision of a court, or the threat of a lawsuit; any legal action that would cause people to hesitate to exercise their right to free speech for fear of the legal consequences.

The Internet is now facing the potential of censorship on-line. The arts & entertainment industry are increasingly being challenged by this “chilling effect” and censorship. Artists, like Mike McNeilly, create street art and super murals in support of the First Amendment and our right of free speech in America and have been censored by city officials and politicians. After the threats of arrests and fines, Artist Mike McNeilly created a street super mural called “Know Censorship.” The mural states, “Know Censorship,” know our First Amendment rights and continue to protect them. While painting another large scale mural called “Liberty,” he was charged with criminal counts after partially painting the 120-foot-high mural. When authorities stopped him from completing it, he added the word “CENSORED” to “Liberty.” The case was taken to Federal Court to protect the artist from prosecution and to recognize the artist’s First Amendment rights.

SOURCE Mike McNeilly

ST MAARTEN’S PORTO CUPECOY COMES ALIVE IN 2012 WITH SECOND ANNUAL ‘ARTS IN THE PLAZA’ FESTIVAL

PORTO CUPECOY, St. Maarten (January 17, 2012) – This winter, Porto Cupecoy Plaza in St. Maarten comes alive and celebrates its second annual “Arts in the Plaza” with nightly events from live Jazz and music to family fun.

Porto Cupecoy, a luxurious residential resort, an entertainment and shopping complex on the West Coast of St. Maarten, transforms into a vibrant stage from December through March where vacationers and locals can enjoy film festivals, winter concert series and farmer’s markets.

Every Monday, from 7 pm to 9 pm, families and friends are able to enjoy cinematic adventures under the stars with critically acclaimed French films (English subtitles) such as Kings and Queens, Small Change, Cache, La Cage Aux Folles and Jean de Florette. Wednesday nights entice music lovers with alternating acts from around the globe each week. World-renowned musical talents include Jazz musician CJ Johnson and Mosaic as well as Baby Soda Jazz Band, Jose Conde and Trades. Friday nights go to the kids at Ernest and Fidel for a “Family Fun Night.” The activities begin at 6pm where children and their parents enjoy a night filled with sports contests, games and prizes.

Culinary artists can delve into the eccentric local flavors that St. Maarten has to offer each Saturday morning at Market on the Plaza, Porto Cupecoy’s own Open Air Market. Local fruits, vegetables, gourmet foods and unique island crafts will be available from 8 am to 12 pm. For those who want to keep the party sizzling, Rendez Vous Lounge and Le Bateau Ivre offers late night fun and dancing with live entertainment beginning at 7 pm.

For a complete list of events, dates and times, visit www.portocupecoy.com/aip. For more information on St. Maarten visit the official site of the St. Maarten Tourist Bureau at www.VacationStMaarten.com.

St. Maarten

St. Maarten is the smallest island in the world to be shared by two nations, Kingdom of the Netherlands and France, creating a European-influenced vibe with a Caribbean flair. As “the culinary capital of the Caribbean,” St. Maarten offers an eclectic array of cuisine fusion for food lovers with more than 365 restaurants, one for each day of the year to satisfy the tastes of every palate and pocketbook.

Located at the northern end of the Lesser Antilles, the island’s 37 square miles has 37 breathtaking beaches and is home to many historical and family-oriented attractions. During the day, watersport enthusiasts can take full advantage of the island’s scuba diving and snorkeling facilities. The capital of Philipsburg offers duty-free shopping with a bustling city atmosphere, while 14 casinos and numerous nightclubs provide endless entertainment.

Accommodations are varied and include elegant private villas, family oriented resorts, quaint cottages and luxury spa resorts. Air service is available to Princess Juliana International Airport from numerous U.S. and Canadian cities as well as from Europe, South America and the Caribbean.

Carnival Slumps After Forecasting Cruise Ship Wreck May Cost $95 Million

Carnival Corp. (CCL) fell the most in more than 10 years in London trading after saying the grounding of the Costa Concordia off Italy’s Tuscan Coast that killed at least six people will cost the company as much as $95 million.
Carnival, the world’s biggest cruise operator with brands including Cunard and Princess Cruises, dropped as much as 23 percent to 1,730 pence, the biggest intraday decline since Sept. 17, 2001, and was down 17 percent at 12:30 p.m.

escuers inspect the Costa Concordia on January 15, 2012, after the cruise ship ran aground and keeled over off the Isola del Giglio.

The vessel will be out of service for at least the current financial year ending Nov. 30, the Miami- and London-based company said in a statement today. The reduction in fiscal 2012 earnings will amount to 11 cents to 12 cents a share, it said. Carnival said it anticipates additional costs to the business that aren’t possible to determine at this time.
“There will be negative short-term implications for bookings across the cruise sector as pictures of the stricken ship are flashed around the world,” said Wyn Ellis, an analyst at Numis Securities in London who reduced his recommendation on the stock to “hold” from “add.”
The insurance loss could be $500 million to $1 billion, depending on liability claims, exceeding the loss from the Exxon Valdez disaster including pollution, said Joy Ferneyhough, an insurance analyst at Espirito Santo Investment Bank.

Insurers
The Costa Concordia was insured by companies including Assicurazioni Generali SpA, RSA Insurance Group Plc and XL Group Plc, said three people with knowledge of the policies. They are among several insurers facing total costs of about 405 million euros ($512 million), said one of the people, who declined to be identified because the terms of the policies are confidential.
Carnival is self-insured for the loss of the use of the Costa Concordia, which is insured for damage with a deductible of approximately $30 million, the company said. Third-party personal injury liability insurance carries a deductible of approximately $10 million for this incident.
Cash costs, excluding the capital cost of the ship, probably won’t exceed $1 billion, which Carnival should be able to accommodate, Numis’s Ellis said.
“Consumer sentiment soon recovers following such tragic events, and we do not expect there to be long-term negative consequences for demand,” Ellis said. “Tragic accidents happen with greater frequency and, sadly, often greater loss of life, in the aviation and rail industry and this does not prevent people using these modes of transport.”

Dual Listing

Carnival, which has dual U.S. and U.K. listings, had risen 5.7 percent in London this year before today and about 5 percent in New York. That compares with a 16 percent gain for Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. (RCL) U.S. markets are closed today for the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday. Genting Hong Kong Ltd. (GENHK) fell 3.2 percent today.
Some investors may switch holdings into Royal Caribbean after the Concordia incident, according to Tim Ramskill, an analyst at Credit Suisse in London. “If the industry already didn’t face enough challenges — fuel price volatility, capacity absorption, and weakness in the European economy — this unfortunate event will reverberate on the group,” he said.
Costa Crociere Chief Executive Officer Pier Luigi Foschi told a press conference in Genoa that he doesn’t foresee a long- term impact on the industry.

Search for Survivors
Rescuers are still searching for as many as 17 people missing from the Costa Concordia. About 60 people were injured after the ship carrying more than 4,000 passengers and crew hit submerged rocks in the Tyrrhenian Sea.
TUI Cruises isn’t getting cancellations and can’t determine the effects on bookings, said Alexa Huener, a spokeswoman. Thomas Cook Group Plc (TCG), Europe’s second-largest tour operator after Tui Travel Plc (TT/), said its passengers on the Concordia were safe and it was making alternative arrangements for customers who hadn’t already joined the vessel, according to a spokeswoman for the London-based company. Hapag-Lloyd Cruises spokeswoman Negar Etminan said it’s too early to forecast the likely effect.

“We would highlight the potential impact on booking yields in an environment where booking patterns remain subdued,” Greg Johnson, a Shore Capital analyst, said in a note, adding tighter operational procedures could add to annual running costs.
Europe generated about 38 percent of Carnival’s revenue in fiscal 2010, the last full year for which geographic results are available. Its Genoa-based Costa Crociere unit is the continent’s largest cruise line based on passengers and ship capacity, according to Carnival.

Source: Bloomberg

Police arrest Italian captain of cruise ship that ran aground, killing 3

ROME (CNN) -
The Italian captain of the cruise ship that ran aground — killing three people and injuring 20 more — was arrested late Saturday and is being investigated for abandoning ship and manslaughter, said a local prosecutor in Grosetto, Italy.

Photo Credit: Reuters

Abandoning ship is the more serious of the potential charges, authorities said.

The captain, Francesco Schettino, had been earlier interviewed by investigators in Porto Santo Stefano about what happened when the 4,200-passenger Costa Concordia struck rocks in shallow water off Italy’s western coast, said officer Emilio Del Santo of the Coastal Authorities of Livorno.

Authorities were looking at why the ship didn’t hail a mayday during the accident near the Italian island of Giglio on Friday night, officials said. The ship is owned by Genoa-based Costa Cruises.

“At the moment we can’t exclude that the ship had some kind of technical problem, and for this reason moved towards the coast in order to save the passengers, the crew and the ship. But they didn’t send a mayday. The ship got in contact with us once the evacuation procedures were already ongoing,” Del Santo said prior to the announcement of the arrest.

Giuseppe Orsina, a spokesman with the local civil protection agency, said 43 to 51 people were missing, though authorities are reviewing passenger lists to confirm the exact figure.

“These people could be still on the island of Giglio, in private houses or in hospitals,” Orsina said.

The coast guard said 50 to 70 people could be missing.

Authorities said earlier Saturday they believed everyone was accounted for, but that they did not have a definitive list of names.

“Fear and panic are comprehensible in a ship long over 300 meters with over 4,000 passengers,” Del Santo said. “We can confirm that the ship has a breach on the hull of about 90 meters, and that the right side of it is completely under water.”

Two French tourists and a crew member from Peru were killed, Port authorities in Livorno said. One of the victims was a 65-year-old woman who died of a heart attack, according to authorities.

A surviving crew member, Rosalyn Rincon, 30, of Blackpool, England, said she wanted to know why the cruise ship was sailing so close to shore. She described a harrowing grounding of the vessel, whose tilting and rising water evoked the film “Titanic,” she said.

“I’m pretty much angry, and I want to know why we were so close to the coast,” said Rincon, who works as a dancer on the ship and was entertaining passengers by performing a trick inside a box with a magician when the accident occurred.

Nautilus International, a maritime employees trade union, called the accident a “wake-up call” to regulators.

“Nautilus is concerned about the rapid recent increases in the size of passenger ships — with the average tonnage doubling over the past decade,” said Nautilus general secretary Mark Dickinson in a statement. “Many ships are now effectively small towns at sea, and the sheer number of people onboard raises serious questions about evacuation.”

The ship was 2.5 miles off route when it struck a rocky sandbar, according to the Italian Coast Guard. Local fishermen say the island coast of Giglio is known for its rocky sea floor.

Gianni Onorato, president of Costa Cruises, expressed “deep sorrow for this terrible tragedy,” but said the cruise line was unable to answer all the questions that authorities are now investigating.

“On the basis of the initial evidence — still preliminary — Costa Concordia, under the command of Master Francesco Schettino, was sailing its regularly scheduled itinerary from Civitavecchia to Savona, Italy, when the ship struck a submerged rock,” Onorato said in a statement before the announcement of the captain’s announcement.

“Captain Schettino, who was on the bridge at the time, immediately understood the severity of the situation and performed a maneuver intended to protect both guests and crew, and initiated security procedures to prepare for an eventual ship evacuation,” he continued.

“Unfortunately, that operation was complicated by a sudden tilting of the ship that made disembarkation difficult,” Onorato said.

Some passengers fell into the chilly waters during the rescue, Italy’s ANSA news agency reported.

The huge ship, which was lying on its side in shallow water Saturday evening, was carrying about 3,200 passengers and 1,000 crew members when it ran aground around dinner time.

Initial reports suggested as many as six people had been killed, but it was unclear why the number dropped. About 1,500 of the people aboard the ship were on their way home Saturday, the Civil Protection Authority said.

Passengers described how the lights went out and it then became clear the ship had hit something, prompting scenes of chaos.

Laurie Willits from Ontario, who was watching a magic show with her husband at that moment, told CNN: “We heard a scraping noise to the left of the ship and then my husband said ‘we’re sliding off our seats.’”

Copyright 2012 by CNN NewSource. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.